Ronneburg was mentioned for the first time in 1209 as in the possession of the governors of Weida; was from 1244 in the possession of the governors of Plauen; and in 1304 received town rights. In 1327 Heinrich Reuß von Plauen signed the "Ronneburg Agreement" with other overseers to protect the town against the Wettin family. Nevertheless, after the ensuing war Ronneburg was part of Vogtland. In 1517 Ronneburg became the property of Wildenfelser, in 1548 the Dukes of Saxony and in 1826 the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg.

In 1766 the first mineral springs, which had already been discovered 100 years previously, were developed. However, the spa lost its significance before the start of uranium mining by the SDAG bismuth in 1953.

Regionally important, but also relevant from certain economic and social history is the Ronneburg's Schnallensturm (buckle storm) of 1841, an uprising of the Ronneburg weavers against the increasing automation of their trade. The occasion was the attempt by the company Hennig & Volcker to use mechanical looms, which led to their destruction by the angry hand weavers.

During the years of World War II, more than 100 women, teenagers and men make from the countries occupied by Germany were held in the armaments manufacturer Hering to do forced labour.

During the GDR era the uranium mining was the most important industry in the region. The city of Gera and the surrounding area owes this industry a considerable part of its growth. At times, 11 percent of the world's mined uranium were promoted in Ronneburg.

In 1990, the uranium mining was discontinued. It was started with the flooding of the tunnels and the reclamation of opencast mines. This reclamation measures were even EXPO project in 2000. Characteristics of the landscape around Ronneburg were the four characteristic pointed cone tips, the levelling began on June 5, 2004 and is complete. The purpose of this reclamation measures was to rehabilitate the uranium mining landscape. At a part of the former mining areas, the new so-called landscape Ronneburg was created in 2007, which together with the newly designed park in Ronneburg was part of the Federal Garden Show 2007. In this way, a belt of green space was created, which extends from the center of Gera to the center of Ronneburg.

Bach Connection

In 1741 J.S. Bach returned a number of canons
with notes on their resolution to Johann Wilhelm Koch, Kantor in Ronneburg, friend of the family and godfather to one of J.S. Bach 's daughters. The accompanying letter written by J.S. Bach's nephew and then secretary, Johann Elias Bach [39] (1705-1755) thanks Koch for sending the pieces and goes on to say "There is no magic (Hexerei) involved her, as he [Bach] put it, and he has written comment on the large ones".

It is not known if J.S. Bach himself has ever been in Ronneburg. However, Christoph Wolff's Johann Sebastian Bach - The Learned Musician (W.E. Norton & Company, 2000), contains a map of Places of Bach's Acivities (pp. 536-537), in which Ronneburg is marked as a place Bach visited.

Source: David Gaynor Yearsley: Bach and the meanings of counterpoint (Cambridge University Press), p. 62